Museum of Science helps Milford middle school students build mini-turbines

Friday

Mar 7, 2014 at 12:01 AM

By Lindsay CorcoranDaily News Staff

MILFORD – Sixth-graders at Stacy Middle School got a chance to put their engineering skills to work on Thursday, building miniature wind turbines thanks to a visit from the Boston Museum of Science’s traveling education program.The students have been learning about the engineering process in their science classes for the last week under the direction of teachers Matt Hagopian, Denise Brault and Meghan Burke."This is a culmination of what we’ve been talking about this week," Hagopian said.Museum of Science Educator Donna Phillips first walked the students through the engineering design process, which included asking a question, imagining a solution, coming up with a plan, creating a design and, finally, improving that design."It’s like the scientific process, but a little different," Phillips said.After testing out different variables with wind turbines provided by Phillips, the students then got the chance to create their own. They tested out a variety of different variables, including the shape and number of the blades."They love this hands-on stuff," Hagopian said. "It brings the concept to real life for them."Hagopian said watching his students work together in groups, step-by-step, to solve a problem was exactly what he wanted to see."As a teacher, that’s the name of the game," Hagopian said.This is the second year the wind turbine program has been offered at Stacy thanks to a donation from the Parent Teacher Organization.Contact Lindsay Corcoran at 508-634-7582 or lcorcoran@wickedlocal.com. Follow her on Twitter @LacorcMDN.